As reported by The Roanoke Times today, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits is planning to build a $48 million brewery on a 259,000-square-foot site in Botetourt County, Virginia. The expansion will create roughly 175 jobs on-site, 540 secondary jobs, and a $375 million annual economic impact, according to projections from the Roanoke Regional Partnership.
“In our quest to provide the best quality, freshest beer to all of our customers, an East Coast brewery started to make a lot of sense to us,” Ballast Point founder Jack White said in a written statement.
Ballast Point is the third San Diego-based brewery to pick Virginia for an East Coast brewery site, following Stone (Richmond), and Green Flash (Virginia Beach); those breweries are currently being built out.
Water availability and quality played a key factor in the decision. “We are able to welcome Ballast Point to Botetourt County because of the decision by the Board of Supervisors in 2015 to join the Western Virginia Water Authority,” said Botetourt County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Leffel. Water for the authority comes from the nearby Carvins Cove reservoir, instead of the mineral-rich water previously available to tenants in the Greenfield area.
According to reports, Ballast Point will receive a $2.4 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist with the project. The company will also be eligible for a $250,000 grant from the governor’s Agriculture and Forest Industries Development Fund. Additionally, Botetourt County will provide about $1.4 million in tax incentives, along with performance grants estimated at $650,000.
Ballast Point Brewing got their start in 1996 as an offshoot of supply shop Home Brew Mart (1992), and the company now employs more than 500 people across four facilities in San Diego. The brewery was acquired by Constellation Brands in November for a record-breaking $1 billion. This past month, Ballast Point won two World Beer Cup awards, announced a Long Beach brewpub, and was crowned Champion Large International Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards.